Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Today in History for May 16, 2017

Viola Goode Liddell

May 16, 1718 – Maria Gaetana Agneis, one of the first
well-known female mathematicians of the Western world, was born in Milan.

May 16, 1771 – The Battle of Alamance, a pre-American
Revolutionary War battle between local militia and a group of rebels called the
"Regulators," occurred in present-day Alamance County, North
Carolina.

May 16, 1777 - Georgia Patriot Button Gwinnet was wounded in
a duel with Lachlan McIntosh over who should command an expedition to secure
Georgia's border with Florida. Gwinnet died three days later from his injury.
He had won election to the Second Continental Congress.

May 16, 1801 - William H. Seward was born in Florida, New
York. He would go on to serve as governor of New York and as U.S. Secretary of
State under Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War.

May 16–17, 1825 – During his tour of the United States, the
Marquis de Lafayette attended a military parade and spoke at Transylvania
University and the Lexington Female Academy in Lexington, Ky.

May 16, 1834 – A sheriff’s posse, men who had chased the
steamboat James Monroe with Charles Boyington aboard up river after he fled
Mobile, returned the suspect to Mobile on the steamboat Currier, arriving on
this day. He was placed immediately in the Mobile city jail on charges related
to the murder of Nathaniel Frost. (Boyington Oak)

May 16, 1836 – Edgar Allan Poe had a second wedding ceremony
in Richmond, Va. with Virginia Clemm, this time in public.

May 16, 1843 – The first major wagon train heading for the
Pacific Northwest set out on the Oregon Trail with 1,000 pioneers from Elm
Grove, Missouri.

May 16, 1860 – The Republican
Convention was held in Chicago, Ill. William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase and
Abraham Lincoln of Illinois were the leading contenders from a field of 12
candidates for president. Lincoln won the nomination on the third ballot.
Hannibal Hamlin of Maine, an outspoken, long-time abolitionist, was chosen for
vice-president.

May 16, 1861 - The State of
Tennessee was officially and ceremoniously admitted to the Confederate States
of America on this day. The Confederate Congress took the action at its meeting
place in Montgomery, Ala., which was the capital of the secessionist nation at
this time. The first capital would not be the capital much longer. To encourage
the secession of Virginia it was decided to move the Confederate seat of
government to Richmond.

May 16, 1862 - U.S. General
Benjamin Butler’s current assignment was as commander of the military occupation
of New Orleans. The day before he had issued his infamous “woman order,”
directing that ladies who were disrespectful to Union soldiers would be treated
as common prostitutes were treated. On this day he merely closed one of the
city’s newspapers (the "Bee") and put the other, the
"Delta" under new management, his own.

May 16, 1862 – During the Civil
War, a skirmish was fought at Pollocksville, North Carolina, and an action took
place at Princeton, West Virginia.

May 16, 1863 - Union General Ulysses S. Grant defeated
Confederates under John C. Pemberton at the Battle of Champion's Hill, sealing
the fate of Vicksburg. Union General Ulysses S. Grant had successfully run the
Confederate gauntlet at Vicksburg and placed the Army of the Tennessee south of
the stronghold, the Rebels’ last significant holding on the Mississippi River.
But he did not move directly on Vicksburg because he knew Joseph Johnston was
assembling a Confederate force in Jackson, Mississippi, 40 miles east of
Vicksburg.

May 16, 1863 – During the Civil
War, skirmishes were fought at Berry's Ferry and Piedmont Station, Va. and at
Charlestown and Elizabeth Court House, West Virginia.

May 16, 1863 - James D. Bullock was
on a mission in Europe to commission the building of warships for the
Confederate government. His only problem was that he had no immediate means to
pay for these vessels. Trying to get the work done completely on credit had got
him laughed out of England, so he was trying his luck in France. There too, he
wrote to Navy Sec. Mallory on this day, “… the French builders, like the
English, wanted money, and were not willing to lay down the ships unless I
could give them security in the shape of cotton certificates.” These were
essentially bonds payable in bales of cotton instead of money.

May 16, 1864 – During the Civil
War, an engagement was fought at Mansura, Louisiana, and an affair occurred at
Spirit Lake, Minnesota.

May 16, 1869 - The Cincinnati Reds played their first
baseball game.

May 16, 1882 – Reuben Chapman, who served as Alabama’s 13th
governor, passed away at the age of 82 in Huntsville, Ala.

May 16, 1886 – W.R. Thompson married Miss S.R. Bell at the
residence of the bride’s mother, near Monroeville, on this evening, by G.W.
Salter, esq.

May 16, 1888 – Nikola Tesla delivered a lecture describing
the equipment which would allow efficient generation and use of alternating
currents to transmit electric power over long distances.

May 16, 1895 – The Monroe Journal reported that Lazarus
James had been arrested for May 9 burning the Claiborne Lower Warehouse and
George Agee was arrested “for complicity” in the crime. James confessed to the
crime, The Journal reported, and both men were in jail at press time. The fire
resulted in an estimated loss of $2,500, and it was not covered by insurance.

May 16, 1895 – The Monroe Journal reported that W.H.
Louiselle and L.N. Lambert of the Bear Creek Mill Co. were ready, within the
next two weeks, to begin surveying and locating the route of the company’s
railroad, which was to begin at their mill at Manistee and run in the direction
of Repton, Ala.

May 16, 1895 – The Monroe Journal reported that R.E. Smith
of Mount Pleasant, Ala. owned “a peculiar freak of nature in the shape of a
hairless calf. The little animal is entirely nude, but lively as a cricket and
seemingly perfect in every respect with a single exception of the usual hirsute
adornment. The calf is an object of no little curiosity and interest in the
community.”

May 16, 1903 - Alabama author and librarian William Stanley
Hoole was born in Darlington, S.C.

May 16, 1912 – Writer, historian and radio man Studs Terkel
was born in New York City.

May 16, 1916
– The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the French Third Republic
signed the secret wartime Sykes-Picot Agreement partitioning former Ottoman
territories such as Iraq and Syria.

May 16-18, 1916 – The annual reunion of the Alabama Division
of Confederate Veterans was to be held in Birmingham.

May 16, 1917 – The Evergreen Courant reported that C.J.
Davis was attending the annual session of the grand lodge of Knights of Pythias
in Montgomery. He was Chancellor Commander of the local lodge.

May 16, 1917 – The Evergreen Courant let readers know that
delinquent subscribers to The Courant could settle their dues with bacon, hams,
lard, syrup or “anything we can make use of but we want each delinquent to
settle in some way. We can even use the money to advantage if that is more
convenient.”

May 16, 1918 - The United States Congress passed the Sedition Act, a piece
of legislation designed to protect America’s participation in World War I.

May 16, 1922 - A.L. Slaughter of Lower Peach Tree visited
Monroeville on this Tuesday and reported that work was progressing steadily on
the oil well at Lower Peach Tree. The well was at that time more than 2,200
feet in depth and promoters of the enterprise had “an abiding confidence in the
ultimate development of a producing well.”

May 16, 1922 - The Moulton-Blacksher Orchard company at
Uriah shipped on this Tuesday the first car lot of snap beans that had ever
gone out of Monroe County. The company had 75 acres in beans and shipments
during the season were expected to aggregate 25 cars. “Should this experiment
prove satisfactory from a financial standpoint the acreage devoted to this crop
will be materially increased next season,” The Monroe Journal reported.

May 16, 1929 - The first Academy Awards were held in
Hollywood.

May 16, 1929 – Evergreen High School’s baseball team was
scheduled to depart on a three-day road trip that would take them to games in
Beatrice and Camden. The team was scheduled to play Beatrice on this Thursday
afternoon, spend the night there and then travel to Camden for a game on Friday
and a game on Saturday.

May 16, 1932 – Jackson, Ala. native and Philadelphia
Phillies pitcher Stew Bolen appeared in his final major league baseball game.

May 16, 1932 - The New York Yankees got their fourth
consecutive shutout. The feat tied the record with Cleveland and Boston.

May 16, 1933 - Cecil Travis became the first player to get
five hits in his first game.

May 16, 1933 - Johnny I. Hildreth, age 37, a former
citizen of Conecuh County who’d lived at Paul, but for the previous nine years
a resident of Opelika, was fatally injured on this Tuesday night when he was
run down by an auto in the street near his residence, sustaining injuries from
which he died at an early hour the following day. According to reports,
Hildreth had parked his car near his home and was responding to call to the
telephone in his home when the unfortunate accident happened. He stepped from
his car into the street in the path of the fast moving car which snuffed his
life away. The remains were brought to Conecuh County on the night of Wed., May
17, and carried to the home of his mother at Paul. Funeral services will be
held at Paul on the morning of May 18 with Rev. G.B. Nall of Atmore
officiating.

May 16, 1939 – Jones Archaeological Museum opened in
Moundville, Ala.

May 16, 1939 - The Philadelphia Athletics and the Cleveland
Indians met at Shibe Park in Philadelphia for the first baseball game to be
played under the lights in the American League.

May 16, 1952 - Little River State Forest was set to open on
this Friday. The state forest, located on Highway 11 between Atmore and Uriah was
open to the public year round; however, the bath house, concession and swimming
facilities were to be in operation only during May, June, July and August.
State Forester J.M. Stauffer said the recreational area on Little River State
Forest was being operated primarily for teenagers and that no profits were
being realized by the state.

May 16, 1954 - Ted Williams got eight hits in his first game
(a double-header) back after breaking his collarbone.

May 16, 1955 - Alabama author James Agee died in New York,
N.Y.

May 16, 1963 - Jimmy Weaver, son of Mr. and Mrs. J.W.
Weaver, and Sid Lambert, son of Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Lambert, participated in
the 1963 East-West High School All-Star Game on this Thursday at Patterson
Field in Montgomery. Both were juniors at Evergreen High School. Lambert and
Weaver played for the West squad which emerged victorious, 5-2. Weaver pitched
for the last three innings, surrendering two runs and three hits. He doubled in
his only appearance at the plate. Lambert caught for six innings and batted
twice but failed to get a hit.

May 16, 1965 - Krist Novoselic was born in Compton, Calif.
He was the bassist and co-founder of the grunge band Nirvana.

May 16, 1965 - Jim Palmer of the Baltimore Orioles made his
pitching debut.

May 16, 1965 - The consecration service for the new church
on the corner of Rural and Martin Streets in Evergreen, Ala. was held by the
Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

May 16, 1965 - What is described by
the United States government as “an accidental explosion of a bomb on one
aircraft which spread to others” at the Bien Hoa air base left 27 U.S.
servicemen and four South Vietnamese dead and some 95 Americans injured. More
than 40 U.S. and South Vietnamese planes, including 10 B-57s, were destroyed.

May 16, 1966 - The Beach Boys album "Pet Sounds"
was released.

May 16, 1966 – Pro Football Hall of Fame running back
Thurman Thomas was born in Houston, Texas. He went on to play for Oklahoma
State, the Buffalo Bills and the Miami Dolphins. He was inducted into the Hall
of Fame in 2007.

May 16, 1967 - Monroe County High School dropped the third
and final game of the Pine Belt Conference playoffs to Jackson High on this
Tuesday for the PBC baseball championship. Monroeville lost the first game on
Thurs., May 9, 3-1, at Jackson, came back with a 2-1 verdict in Monroeville
Fri., May 10, and then lost the deciding game, 11-2. Players on MCHS’s team
that season included Pete Black, Gary Downs, Rusty Pitts and John Williams.

May 16, 1968 - Donald E. Ballard,
Corpsman U.S. Navy, was awarded the Medal of Honor for action this date in
Quang Tri Province. Ballard, from Kansas City, Missouri, was a corpsman with
Company M, 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines, 3rd Marine Division. He had just
finished evacuating two Marines with heatstroke when his unit was surprised by
a Viet Cong ambush. Immediately racing to the aid of a casualty, Ballard
applied a field dressing and was directing four Marines in the removal of the
wounded man when an enemy soldier tossed a grenade into the group. With a
warning shout of, “Grenade!” Ballard vaulted over the stretcher and pulled the
grenade under his body. The grenade did not go off. Nevertheless, he received
the Medal of Honor for his selfless act of courage. Ballard was only the second
man whose valor was rewarded despite the fact that the deadly missile did not
actually explode.

May 16, 1972 - Greg Luzinski hit a home run in which the
ball hit the Liberty Bell monument in Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium.

May 16, 1972 - A series of air
strikes over five days destroyed all of North Vietnam’s pumping stations in the
southern panhandle, thereby cutting North Vietnam’s main fuel line to South
Vietnam.

May 16, 1974 – The Evergreen Courant reported that, during a
recent meeting, the Evergreen, Ala. City Council granted Sparta Academy a
permit to construct a gym and auditorium.

May 16, 1974 – The Evergreen Courant reported that the 11th
Annual Conecuh County FFA/4-H Barrow Show was “a great success” as 80 barrows
were shown by FFA and 4-H Club members. Kenny Brown of the Evergreen FFA showed
the Grand Champion barrow, a Duroc heavyweight. Steve Windham of the Evergreen
FFA showed the Reserve Champion, a Hampshire barrow bred by Robert Ward of
Evergreen.

May 16, 1979 - The National League approved the sale of the
Astros from Ford Motors to John J. McMullen for $19 million.

May 16, 1980 – Famous Mississippi comedian Jerry Clower ate
supper on this Friday night at the Town House (formerly the City Café) in
Evergreen, Ala. Johnny Allred was the restaurant’s manager, and Clower was accompanied
by Bill Crutchfield, the manager of WMFC in Monroeville. Clower was on his way
to a performance in Excel.

May 16, 1980 - Lisa Brock was crowned Miss Rubicon at the
Miss Rubicon Pageant at Evergreen High School in Evergreen, Ala.

May 16, 1981 - Craig Reynolds of the Houston Astros hit
three triples against the Chicago Cubs.

May 16, 1982 – A “That’s Incredible” camera crew from New
Orleans, led by producer Mark Grossen, filmed a segment on Yancey Smith at
Haines Island Park on this Sunday. The network television program, which
highlighted the unusual, was doing a segment about Smith, the daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. Alvin Smith of Frisco City, because Yancey, 13, participated in beauty
pageants and was said to be both the youngest drag boat racer in the country
and the only female to race drag boats.

May 16, 1992 - Weird Al Yankovic's "Smells Like
Nirvana" hit No. 35 in the U.S.

May 16, 1996 - Sammy Sosa became the first Chicago Cub
player to hit two home runs in one inning.

May 16, 1997 - Gary Gaetti of the St. Louis Cardinals
recorded his 2,000th hit.

May 16, 1998 – Bear Grylls climbed to the summit of Mount
Everest, 18 months after breaking three vertebrae in a parachuting accident. At
23, he was at the time among the youngest people to have achieved this feat.

May 16, 1998 – Noted Alabama author Viola Jefferson Goode
Liddell died in Camden at the age of 96. Born in Wilcox County’s Gastonburg
community on Dec. 18, 1901, she was buried in the Camden Cemetery. Her best
known books include “With a Southern Accent,” “A Place of Springs” and “Grass
Widow.”

May 16, 1999 - The 225th episode of "The Simpsons"
was aired. The animated show had been airing since Jan. 14, 1990.

May 16, 2008 - The Conecuh County Health Department
officially dedicated its new building on Wild Avenue on this Friday morning
with a ribbon-cutting ceremony in the building’s lobby. Cutting the ribbon were
Clinic Supervisor Debra King, State Health Officer Donald Williamson and Home
Health Supervisor Jean Brawner.

May 16, 2008 - With 4.7 seconds left in this Friday night’s
spring football jamboree at Crenshaw Academy, Sparta Academy put together some
late game theatrics to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. With less than a
minute left in the game, Sparta quarterback Taylor Brown led the Warriors deep
into opposition territory, where he connected with receiver Cody Baggett on a
28-yard touchdown pass with 4.7 seconds to go. The touchdown put the finishing
touches on a jamboree that the Warriors won, 19-15.